It was a day of confirming rumors and social media posts for David Otto, as he prepares to close Stepney Hardware in Monroe after more than six decades of business.

Even with its fate set, Otto and his staff zoomed around store for his customers, answering calls and helping as needed alongside his staff, which is how his parents ran the 590 Main Street location for 60 years.

“It’s been a pretty flattering to have all these people come in, and it’s difficult,” he said. “You build relationships for a long time and it ends pretty quickly…I love it and it’s hard, all at the same time.”

The Otto family has been serving generations of local and visiting customers since David’s parents bought Stepney’s in 1959 — four years after it originally opened.

Otto remembered hanging around the store with his father and mother, Chap and Dorothy, at 10 years old, and he began working there while in high school. He started running the store in the 1990s following his parents’ deaths.

Now 65, Otto said time and other factors like big-box stores and e-commerce contributed to his decision to close Stepney Hardware.

“Had I been 10 years younger, I wouldn’t have made this decision,” he said.

Customers lamented the loss of their community hardware store.

“I’m sad to see it go,” said Tim Larkin. “It’s been a fixture in town for 64 years.”

For Larkin, whose father would bring him to the store when he was growing up, Stepney was also a place to get answers about any equipment or project he’d been working on. The store was also where he would bring his own 7-year-old son.

“It’s the end of an era,” said longtime customer and Newtown resident Ron Jones as he purchased bolts and other goods Thursday. He recalled the days when Chap Otto ran the hardware store.

“You’re going to be missed,” Jones told Dave Otto as he made his final purchase.

“I think the whole town is saddened by the loss of what was an iconic part of our community,” said Monroe First Selectman Ken Kellogg. “As saddened as I am over it, I think the one thing we should also acknowledge is they were successful for so long.”

Kellogg said the store’s focus on customer service and building community ties allowed Stepney to survive the ebb and flow of the industry.

While Otto is unsure what he will do after closing, reflecting on the legacy of the store and his family is on the top of his list, he said.

There will be a public auction on Feb. 23 at which people can purchase the remaining inventory and an array of antique tools — some about 150 years old — that Otto’s parents had collected and hung throughout the store.

“You know you are a part of the community because you’ve been there so long, but when you see what’s going on here, it really pulls at you a little bit,” Otto said. “We made a good life, it was fun. I really enjoyed the people.”